Eight!

Yesterday I devoured an incredibly yummy cupcake at a friend's birthday party and tonight I divulged in chocolate covered blueberries and chocolate covered almonds!

Why is this so noteworthy, you ask?

It has been (painfully at times) a sweet-free zone for the last 2 months. But as of this week I am officially a size 8!!

A Size 8! She said!
I have shed the 12 pounds that I wanted to lose. It's funny how I even feel lighter - and thus better. It makes the sacrifice worth the effort. And I've been wearing clothes that I haven't fit into for the last - well - 3 years. Like this pair of really cute, comfortable white pinstripe pants that I got from Banana Republic a month before I found out I was pregnant! (Let's not talk about if they are out of date, I don't really care.)

It's maintenance time from here on out. shouldn't be too hard with summer coming on and bike riding in the near future.

I am glad to not be on full-blown diet mode. I get tired of being pushed into a corner and having to say "I'm on a diet" when acquaintances ask if I want something and I politely decline and they push, no really have some, and I decline again, and they continue to pursue until I confess that I'm dieting.

How do they respond?.. Why are you dieting? You don't need to diet! Have you ever noticed that 9 time out of 10 it's a person who follows with a statement like, "I need to diet, but I just don't have the discipline" or "Every time I diet I put it right back" or "You're doing that diet? Oh, you'll put it back on..." Ugh. I don't need to explain myself to someone I'm not close to and is just projecting their failure onto me anyway. Is it REALLY their business what I do? So because I conceal my undesirable body areas better, I don't need to diet?

Who are these people??

It's not unlike the people [older and supposedly wiser then I was] that I now curse [kidding - sort of] who used to say, Oh just you wait, it will catch up with you...because I was once a [very] skinny, shapeless kid. Why? Why, did you have the need to say that to a kid? And with all the eating disorders that we have in this society, did it ever cross your mind that if you say that to the wrong young, impressionable skinny girl it could just propel her down an anorexia disorder path? I'm sorry, did I offend because I was skinny and you were not? Did you really think that I bought into the idea that my [even then - imperfect] body wouldn't change? You didn't see my mom, I understand genetics, I saw myself in the future.

I guess what annoyed me most, recently, was a comment made to me about obtaining a flat stomach. I informed the person that I haven't had a flat stomach since I was 25 years old, that is not what my expectation was/is. And frankly, that bit of belly fat that I will always carry is a badge of honor for the birth of my son. for me, it is a reminder of the miracle of life.

Let me say it again...

My stomach is a badge of honor that I am proud to wear, a daily reminder of the birth of my son who is a gift from God.

That fact is, I needed to shed 10+ pounds that was getting me down. So after maintaining it for almost 3 years, I decided to get disipline and get it off. I'm now planted firmly in the middle of the normal and healthy BMI range for my height and body size. And I've doubled my whole foods intake [fruits and veggies] and decreased my sugar intake [soda and all things sweet].

I am healthier to keep up with a Toddler that is only going to grow bigger, get faster and more become physical. He needs healthy, active parents.

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Now I think I'll go eat a couple more almonds.